The Best Freelancing Platforms for Finding Clients
Nearly 40% of millennials already freelance. The movement is here to stay.
A lot of hay is made about the gig economy, and for good reason! It delivers freedom, flexibility, and autonomy, and lets you design a life and career you love!
Can you tell I believe in freelancing?
I’m happy to be a freelancer, but I won’t sugar coat that it’s hard to land clients. When you’re kicking off your freelance business, you may decide to use a platform to connect with clients. This is a powerful strategy, and has a lot of upsides.
To be fair, it does have downsides, too. For one, if the platform disappears, so do your clients. For another, you usually have to pay to use them, so you don’t get to keep all of your earnings.
That said, I’d still recommend freelancing platforms for finding clients if you’re new to freelancing, or just trying to add some clients to your existing business.
Spoiler alert: I use and recommend Upwork. In my opinion, it’s the best platform for finding clients, particularly if you’re in marketing or sales.
Of all the platforms I tried (including Girl Gaze, Angelist, Working Not Working, Freelancer, Fiver), Upwork was the best one for a full-stack growth marketer like me.
Here’s the behind-the-scenes on each of them:
Angelist is startup-focused, so from that perspective, it had a lot of potential. However, it doesn’t seem like the platform is very sticky, because most of the founders I talked to weren’t super responsive. It can work, but it probably requires a decent amount of effort.
Working Not Working seems to be good, particularly for creatives; there seem to be lots of postings for designers, producers, and art directors. Some of the jobs are full-time, while others are contract-based. If you’re open to both types of work, it can be a great option. That said, many of the job listings also noted that they wanted the freelancer/contractor to be in the office at some point, so it’s not perfect for fully remote workers. Bottom line: make sure you read the entire job description.
Girl Gaze is also really focused on creatives, like photographers, videographers, and designers. If you’re a feminist, freelance creative, this one could be excellent for you. Heavy-hitting fashion and culture companies, like the BBC, post opportunities with Girl Gaze. That said, I didn’t see any growth marketing jobs on that platform.
Freelancer.com was a complete waste of time for me. The job quality was not good, and I had a few creepy guys reach out to me about questionable “jobs.” Also, you do have to pay for even the basic membership.
So far, I have not been able to get any traction on Fiverr. I think most collaborative consulting work, like mine, is going to be too expensive for Fiverr. (The clue is in the name, so I probably should have realized that sooner.) If you offer smaller, cheaper services, Fiverr could be good for you.
For my type of work - startup and small biz growth consulting - the best by far has been Upwork.com.
After a little over a month of using Upwork, I have booked four clients and have been able to earn more than $3K. I was also selected for the Rising Talent program.
Upwork does charge you for the privilege of using the platform and it's not cheap - 20% for the first $500 earned, per client. After that $500, it's just 10%. Even though it’s pricey, the charge does seem fairly reasonable because of the quality of clients and jobs. Plus, in many cases, you're guaranteed to get paid. We all know how hard it can be to ensure that you're going to be paid on time, so for me, the extra security is worth the cost.
That said, if you're selected for the Rising Talent program in the beginning, or the Top Talent program after you've been on the platform a while, those rates go down. So, it doesn't have to stay expensive.
Read this blog to learn how to be successful on Upwork!
At this point, I can’t really imagine going back to a traditional 9-to-5. Being a freelancer has delivered all of the freedom, autonomy, and flexibility that I was hoping for - plus it’s given me the chance to work with startups and small businesses all over the US!
I’m still working on building up my book of business, but that work is worth it, at least for me.
Have questions about being a freelancer? Leave a comment below or send me a note to hello@lanecollective.com!
